Page 108 of The Addendum

I sniffled and raised my face, meeting his gaze. It was gentle and understanding. Anxious. Katy sat on the coffee table, a tray beside her. I could smell tea brewing, the scent light and perfuming the air. She was watching us, concerned and quiet, meeting my eyes with a nod.

“We’re here, dear.”

“I’ve been so horrible to you! How can you be so nice?” I protested.

She and Richard exchanged a glance. “That’s what families do,” she replied.

“You think of me as family?” I asked, shocked at her choice of words.

“You’re part of my husband, so therefore, yes.” She lifted a shoulder. “Even if it is distant family by choice.”

“I’m sorry,” I rambled. “I’m so sorry for all of it. I was so wrong.”

Richard turned to face me fully. In an instinctive paternal gesture, he took another tissue and wiped under my eyes. I half expected him to hold one to my nose and tell me to blow, but he didn’t.

“What are you sorry for, Ashley? What brought this on?”

“I knocked over a picture moving a box of Luc’s,” I explained. “I took off the frame to put the broken glass in the garbage, and I found two envelopes. One was addressed to you, the other to me. They were from my mom. She–she told me everything in the letter.”

“Everything?” he questioned. “What do you mean?”

“That you didn’t know. That she wrote you a letter and never gave it to you.”

Katy gasped, and they exchanged a look.

“What?” I asked.

“I remembered your mother leaving a letter for your father then coming back to get it, saying she’d changed her mind. I told Richard about it after you showed up. It had slipped my mind all those years ago.”

I leaned over and pulled the yellowed envelope from under the manila one that was concealing it.

“Was this it?”

She smiled. “It was a long time ago, but I think so.”

“What exactly did your mother say?” Richard asked, his voice tight.

I picked up the folded pages and held them out to him. “Read it yourself.”

* * *

RICHARD

The last thing I had expected that evening was a phone call from Ashley. Hearing her emotionally charged voice brought out the same protective feeling I got when Grace or one of my other children called me. It was instinctive and strong.

Holding her when she came to the door, still crying, felt oddly right. It was the first time she’d accepted any sort of physical contact with me, and she burrowed close, desperate for the safety of my arms. Katy made tea as I held Ashley, allowing her to weep. I had no idea what was going on, except I knew it was big.

Mixed with the curiosity, the worry, and the suddenness of it, was the grim satisfaction that with Luc away, it was me she turned to for help. It gave me a sliver of hope for our relationship. She had been so angry with me the last time we saw each other, I had stepped back, giving her space to determine the next move. I had gone about it all wrong, so I was leaving it to her to reconnect. Hoping, praying, that she would do so. I hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly.

Her hand shook as she held out the letter, and I accepted it, wrapping my fingers around hers.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. Whatever’s in this letter, we’ll figure it out.”

Katy stood, pulling a blanket off the back of the sofa and draping it around Ashley’s shoulders. “Have some tea, Ashley. You’re shivering.” She fussed, her voice low and soothing. Ashley took the cup she offered, giving Katy a tremulous smile. I had a feeling she needed that maternal touch right now.

I stood and took the letter, reading it silently. The shock waves that ran over me as I read it were constant. Reading Juliet’s words, her fears, her struggles, and her guilt ate at me. The fact that she had been in love with me wasn’t a shock, yet seeing the words made me uncomfortable. Back then, I had no idea what love was. I couldn’t accept it in any form. I didn’t understand it.

I hadn’t been a good man. I was never given to kindness or sentimentality. How she saw anything but the cold, distant man in me, I had no idea.